Chinese Audiovisual Resources

Radio and Podcasts

Slow Chinese podcasts are stories and commentary by native Mandarin speakers read at a slower pace. Accompanying transcripts make these podcasts useful for intermediate to advanced students interested in working on comprehension and reading. Podcasts are available for download, or you can subscribe to Slow Chinese on iTunes.

Douban FM is a streaming radio service with a focus on Chinese popular music. It's a project of the Chinese social networking site Douban and requires an account for full access. Douban FM was created for the Chinese market, and its interface is entirely in Chinese, making this a good resource for intermediate to advanced Chinese learners.

ChinesePod offers both audio and video Chinese lessons that are available for download and include supplementary materials. There's more information about ChinesePod on the Chinese resources page. For login information, email Beth Platte or stop by her office (Hauser Library 38).

TV and Movies

Set in 1962 Hong Kong, the film follows the lives of two couples in a small crevice of the city. The spectator is only ever are allowed to see the wife in one relationship, Li-zhen and the husband from the other relationship, Chow interact with each other. It becomes apparent to the audience as small pieces of evidence begin to build up that their spouses are having a relationship with each other. The two protagonists of the film are transfixed in a passionate sensorium trying to combat a multi-faceted loneliness aided by the cheating spouses, the bustling city, and the ambiguous stance of the protagonists’ relationship.

A Taiwanese family, composed of a father and his children are struggling to make ends meet in Taipei. The father makes a living by holding up a sign for a real estate company, while his children wander through a supermarket or the outskirts of the city. The movie is not conventionally filmed and edited, but is rather strung together with long shots that show the complexity of daily mundane occurrences. Though the family lacks a mother-figure, this figure presents itself in many forms, creating a sense of wholeness in the film. In what seems to be a post-apocalyptic setting of sorts, with the bleak weather conditions, and their human conditions, there are hidden silver linings.